‘Answer this: when was the last time that the US Government (of either party, sorry to say) defended Christians from persecution?’
Probably the American Revolution and The War of Northern Aggression. Would this mean that Christians would be considered enemy combatants?
But were they being persecuted because they were Christians?
Seriously, the last time we ever went up against the Muslims was the Barbary Wars (even in WWI, the ones who went up against the Turks were the Brits -- to include the ANZACs).